View source for Sadko

{{Short description|Character in Russian folklore}}
{{other uses}}
[[File:Sadko palekh.jpg|thumb|Sadko, [[Palekh miniature]]]]

'''Sadko''' ({{langx|ru|Садко}}) is a principal character in Russian ''[[Bylina|byliny]]'' (oral epic poems).{{sfn|Dixon-Kennedy|1998|p=245}} He is an adventurer, merchant, and ''[[gusli]]'' musician from [[Novgorod]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kononenko |first1=Natalie |editor1-last=Beissinger |editor1-first=Margaret H. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Slavic and East European Folklore |date=11 April 2025 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-008077-8 |page=492 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Oxford_Handbook_of_Slavic_and_East_E/AC9KEQAAQBAJ |language=en |chapter=Byliny: Russian Folk Epic}}</ref> The story of Sadko is best known outside Russia in the opera ''[[Sadko (opera)|Sadko]]'' by [[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov]].{{sfn|Dixon-Kennedy|1998|p=248}}

== Textual notes ==

"Sadko" is a version of the tale translated by [[Arthur Ransome]] in ''Old Peter's Russian tales'' (1916).<ref name=ransome-sadko/> Kate Blakey's translation of a variant, "Sadko, the Rich Merchant Guest", appeared in the ''Slavonic Review'' (1924).<ref name=blakey-sadko-rich-merch-g/>

A [[bylina]] version collected by [[Pavel Rybnikov|P. N. Rybnikov]] has been translated by James Bailey.<ref name=rybnikov&bailey-sadko/>

==Synopsis==
Sadko of Novgorod played the ''[[gusli]]'' on the shores of a lake and river.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|[[Ilmen Lake]],<ref name=blakey-sadko-rich-merch-g/> or [[Volkhov River]].<ref name=ransome-sadko/>}} The [[Sea Tsar]]<ref name=ransome-sadko/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|''Tsar Morskoy''.<ref name=blakey-sadko-rich-merch-g/>}} enjoyed his music, and offered to help him. Sadko was instructed to make a bet with the local merchants about catching a gold-finned fish in the lake; when he caught it (as provided by the Sea Tsar), the merchants had to pay the wager, making Sadko a rich merchant.<ref name=blakey-sadko-rich-merch-g/><ref name=rybnikov&bailey-sadko/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The wager is wanting in Ransome's version, where Sadko is told by the Sea Tsar to draw the fish net and finds a coffer filled with gems.<ref name=ransome-sadko/>}}

[[File:Ilya Repin - Sadko - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Sadko (painting)|Sadko in the Underwater Tsardom]]'' by [[Ilya Repin]].]]

Sadko traded on the seas with his new wealth, but did not pay proper respects to the Tsar as per their agreement.  The Tsar stopped Sadko's ships in the sea.  He and his sailors tried to appease the Sea Tsar with gold, to no avail. Sadko realizes a sacrifice of a live soul was being demanded. All the shipmates drew lots, but Sadko draws the unlucky lot as if by fate or magic, so he is sent overboard and he sinks into the sea.<ref name=blakey-sadko-rich-merch-g/><ref name=rybnikov&bailey-sadko/>

In the sea world, Sadko played the ''gusli'' for the Sea Tsar, whose dancing roughened the seas, so that all the sailors prayed to [[Mikola Mozhaiski|Mikola Mozhaisky]] (Mikula Mozhaysk, patron of mariners;{{sfnp|Blakey|1924|p=61, n2}} or the name [[Saint Nicholas]] is called by in variants),{{sfnp|Bailey|2015|p=295}} and the saint instructed Sadko to quit playing, and break the strings if the Tsar will not let him stop. As the Tsar was bound to offer him a choice of maidens to wed in order to detain him, Mikola advised him to choose the last one, with the warning not to embrace her as a wife (consummate the marriage),{{sfnp|Bailey|2015|p=295}} if he hoped ever to return to Russia. The Tsar showed Sadko a selection of 900 (or 300) maidens, and Sadko picked out [[Chernava]] (diminutive: Chernavushka) who appeared last.{{Refn|Picked from three sets of 300 mermaids;<ref name=rybnikov&bailey-sadko/> or three sets of 100 maidens.<ref name=blakey-sadko-rich-merch-g/> It is a choice from just 30 of the Tsar's daughters in Ransome's version.<ref name=ransome-sadko/>}} The two then wed, but the groom made no overture to the bride on their wedding night, and Sadko the next day woke up in his hometown, reunited with his terrestrial wife.<ref name=blakey-sadko-rich-merch-g/><ref name=rybnikov&bailey-sadko/>
 
The Chernava is explained as the nymph of the River Chernava.{{sfnp|Blakey|1924|p=61, n3}} In Ransom's version, the Sea Tsar's youngest daughter is named Volkhov, which is the river Sadko has always cherished.<ref name=ransome-sadko/>

==Analysis==
===Tale type===
The story of Sadko is classified in the international [[Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index]] as tale type ATU 677*, "Below the Sea": due to his musical prowess, the hero is taken to the court of an underwater Tsar.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Uther |first1=Hans-Jörg |title=The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography, Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson |date=2004 |publisher=Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Academia Scientiarum Fennica |isbn=978-951-41-0955-3 |page=373 }}</ref>

===Motifs===
In some variants, Sadko is chosen to jump overboard by throwing lots between the men. This motif, derived from the Biblical story of [[Jonah]], is a widespread device, appearing, for instance, in [[Child ballad]] 57 ''[[Brown Robyn's Confession]]''.<ref>{{cite book|first = Child|last = Francis James|title = The English and Scottish Popular Ballads|volume = V. 2|page = 15|location = New York|publisher = Dover Publications|year = 1965}}</ref>

==Historical parallels==

Sadko may be based on a certain  Sotko Sytinich (or Sedko Sitinits),<ref name=michell&forbes-chro_nov/> who is mentioned in the ''[[Novgorod First Chronicle]]'' as the patron of the stone Church of Boris and Gleb built in the Novgorodian Detinets in 1167.<ref name=birnbaum/>{{sfnp|Blakey|1924|p=57}}

==Adaptations==
This tale attracted the attention of several authors in the 19th century with the rise of the [[Slavophile]] movement and served as a basis for a number of derived works, most notably the poem "Sadko" by [[Alexei Tolstoy (poet)|Alexei Tolstoy]] (written 1871–1872);<ref name=bristol/> additionally notable the 1898 [[opera]] entitled ''[[Sadko (opera)|Садко (Sadko)]]'' composed by [[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov]], who also wrote the [[Libretto]]. In 1952, [[Aleksandr Ptushko]] directed a live action film based on the opera entitled ''[[Sadko (film)|'''Садко''' (Sadko)]]''.<ref name=naroditskaya/> A shortened and heavily modified version of this film was dubbed and entitled ''The Magic Voyage of Sinbad'' in 1962; later spoofed on [[Mystery Science Theater 3000]] and released on DVD by [[Shout! Factory]] in 2011. In 2018, an animated adaption was released. The 1953 Soviet biopic ''[[Rimsky-Korsakov (film)|Rimsky-Korsakov]]'' features pieces of the opera.

The 1952 original film adaption ''Sadko'' (Садко) by [[Mosfilm]] studio was released on DVD in February 2004 by the Russian Cinema Council (Ruscico), as noted on the Mosfilm website.<ref>[https://cinema.mosfilm.ru/films/34759/ Садко | Фильмы | Онлайн-кинотеатр "Мосфильма"]</ref>

==See also==
* [[Sadko (musical tableau)]]
* [[Sadko (opera)]]
* [[Jūratė and Kastytis]] - a similar Lithuanian legend.

==Explanatory notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name=birnbaum>{{cite book|last=Birnbaum|first=Henrik |author-link=Henrik Birnbaum|title=Lord Novgorod the Great: The historical background |location=Columbus, Ohio |publisher=Slavica Publishers |year=1981 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o-4VAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Sadko%22 |page=137 |isbn=0893570885<!--, 9780893570880-->}}</ref>

<ref name=blakey-sadko-rich-merch-g>{{harvp|Blakey|1924}} tr., "Sadko, the Rich Merchant Guest", pp. 57–62.</ref>

<ref name=bristol>Bristol, Evelyn (1991). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=VxNgAAAAMAAJ&q=sadko A History of Russian Poetry]''. Oxford University Press. p. 149. {{ISBN|0-19-504659-5}}.</ref>

<ref name=naroditskaya>Naroditskaya, Inna (2012). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=lkpKtnkW0ugC&pg=PA3 Bewitching Russian Opera: The Tsarina from State to Stage]''. OUP USA Press. p. 3–4, 216ff. {{ISBN|0-195-34058-2}}<!--9780195340587-->.</ref>

<ref name=michell&forbes-chro_nov>Michell, Robert; Forbes, Nevill eds. (1914). ''[https://archive.org/details/chronicleofnovgo00michrich/page/24/mode/2up Chronicle of Novgorod]'' (Camden Third Series 25). London: Offices of the [Camden] Society. p. 25.</ref>

<ref name=ransome-sadko>{{harvp|Ransome|1916}} tr., "[https://archive.org/details/oldpetersrussian00rans/page/28/mode/2up Sadko]", pp. 29–42.</ref>

<ref name=rybnikov&bailey-sadko>{{harvp|Bailey|2015}} tr., "[https://books.google.com/books?id=UadzCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA296 Sadko]", pp. 293–306. From [[Pavel Rybnikov|Rybnikov, P. N.]] (1990). ''Songs'' '''2''': No. 13. Singer A. P. Sorokin, residing near Lake Onega.</ref>

}}
;Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Bailey |editor-first=James |editor-link=<!--James Bailey (Slavicist)--> |chapter=Sadko |title=An Anthology of Russian Folk Epics |publisher=Routledge |year=2015|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UadzCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA296 |pages=293–306 |isbn=1-317-47693-X<!--, 9781317476931-->}}
* {{citation|last=Blakey |first=Kate |author-link=<!--Kate Blakey--> |title=Folk Tales of Ancient Russia. (Byliny of Lord Novgorod the Great) |journal=The Slavonic Review |volume=3 |number=7 |date=June 1924 |pages=52–62 |jstor=4201809}}
* {{cite book |last1=Dixon-Kennedy |first1=Mike |title=Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic Myth and Legend |date=8 December 1998 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-57607-063-5 |pages=245–248 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Encyclopedia_of_Russian_and_Slavic_Myth_/p8woAAAAYAAJ |language=en}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Ransome |editor-first=Arthur |editor-link=Arthur Ransome |others=Dmitri Mitrokhin (illustr.) |chapter=Sadko |title=Old Peter's Russian tales |location=London, New York |publisher=Thomas Nelson and sons |year=1916 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/oldpetersrussian00rans/page/28/mode/2up |pages=29–42}}

{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}

{{wikisource|1=ru:Садко (А. К. Толстой)|2=poem "Sadko" by A. Tolstoy}}
* [http://www.artrusse.ca/Byliny/sadko.htm ''Sadko''] the ''bylina''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061017073919/http://russian-crafts.com/tales/sadko.html Prose version]
* [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/russian/oldpetersrussiantales/sadko.html ''Sadko''] as collected by [[Arthur Ransome]] in ''Old Peter's Russian Tales''
* [http://librivox.org/old-peters-russian-tales-by-arthur-ransome/ ''Sadko''] as collected by [[Arthur Ransome]] in ''Old Peter's Russian Tales'' as a librivox.org audiobook.
* [http://publicadomain.ru/russkie-narodnye-byliny/pro-sadko Collection of bylin about Sadko] (in Russian)

{{Slavic mythology}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Russian folklore characters]]
[[Category:Characters in bylinas]]
[[Category:People from medieval Novgorod]]
[[Category:Russian folklore]]
[[Category:Epic poems]]
[[Category:Russian poems]]
[[Category:Medieval legends]]
[[Category:Maritime folklore]]
[[Category:Slavic folklore characters]]
[[Category:Veliky Novgorod]]
[[Category:Legendary Russian people]]
[[Category:Russian legends]]